The Fight Game with Jim Lampley returns tonight at 11 pm EST on HBO, and of course much of the episode's focus will be on the upcoming Mayweather-Pacquiao fight being presented by HBO PPV and Showtime PPV.
One of the features, which you can see here and now, sees reporter Michelle Beadle take a look at just how incredible the demand for this fight really is. For just one example, ringside seats went for $10,000 for the fight, and are being sold on the secondary market for upwards of $85,000.
"We can look at the gate, $72 million. We can look at international sales, which is now over $35 million. The sponsorship is now over $12 million. The closed circuit will be well over $10 million. And if the pay-per-view does three million homes, that's $300 million," Arum told Beadle.
The hotels and sports books on the Vegas strip also will be flooded, with money raining down from the heavens.
"Right now the rates for the fight are the highest they've been in Las Vegas in a long time, especially here at the MGM. We're at $1,600 a night for a room," said Scott Sibella, President and COO of the MGM Grand.
"This fight will probably be the single biggest wagering event from an A-B standpoint, meaning one guy against another, just like the Super Bowl. We'll probably take more money from this fight than we did the Super Bowl," said Jay Rood, VP of Race & Sports Books for MGM Resorts International.
Beadle figures that a lot of the fight's demand is based on its exclusivity, with just 17,000 or so seats available at the MGM Grand.
"You heard those prices.It is going to be such an exclusive event. The who's who of everything, if that's still a saying, will want to be there," she told Lampley. "I think no matter what the price amount is, it'll basically be a badge of honor. If you are at this fight, you'll be able to brag about being at this fight. I think we're going to see a lot of folks like that. Not necessarily huge boxing fans, but people with a lot of money and wanting to be seen."